Management: Building a House

Every manager must start somewhere, just like the building of a house. For a house, the concrete foundation is poured into the specified area of land, allotted properly to fit the floor plans. It takes time for the concrete to set until it is ready to build upon. The proper training for managers is the concrete base, poured into minds at a reasonable pace and allowed time to set and become solid, while other materials are being gathered to build upon the foundation. The training allows for the manager to hold the business in place, just as the concrete base will one day support a house.

After the foundation comes the walls, constructed of wood and drywall. The wood represents the managers’ strength and power within the company. They have the great task to support the employees in a strict and unforgiving aspect, yet the drywall represents the flexibility and reasonability of the person in power, since he can bend just like the slightly flimsy board. The walls in a house look over the insides and outsides of the structure, just as managers keep track of both internal and external happenings in their perspective fields.

The secret of managers is that they are not only active on the outside, but also on the inside, just as within the walls there are wires that buzz with electric fury, bringing power to house. The managers are constantly thinking of many managerial strategies and how to implement them, for instance, how to emphasize a productive work environment with the help of many new innovative tools, such as systems thinking. Managers are abuzz with modern structures that can better help them plan and run their companies.

Next, trusses are built and the roof is put on, protecting the inside of the house from outside harm. Managers are much like the roof in that they monitor the happenings outside of the company and then attempt to protect and shield the inside from corruption and outside factors, such as the depletion of monetary value and even the horrible ideas of underpaid labor. Today’s world is full of many immoral practices, especially in the business world, where corruption can run wild. It is the duty of the manager to stay honest and strong to resist any temptations or influences from others, no matter what benefits can be received in doing the wrong thing. Managers must protect the company from fraud, just as a roof protects a house from rain, snow, and other elements of nature.

Now that the structure itself is built, it is important to fill the house with decorations and furniture, just as managers fill in the empty spaces in business by boosting employee morale and offering positive and negative feedback to those workers below them. The house is drab, plain, and boring without accessories that make up a home. It needs care, attention, and happiness in order to complete the look for which the owner is aiming. In order for managers to be completely effective on the person to person level, it is important that they connect with the employees by not only giving suggestions to enhance work productivity, but also by giving positive feedback to workers for hard work and efficiency. Managers’ compliments and constructive criticism represent the furniture and decoration of a house since they seem inhuman until they connect with employees on a personal level.

Finally the house is complete, and each component takes on a new role. The house is still divided into the foundation, walls, roof, and decoration, just as the company is split up respectively into the employees, the team leaders, the managers, and the efficiency of the three together.

A roof over a house is very similar to managers in a business, where the foundation represents the people who make up the majority of the company and therefore its base, the walls are made of intermediate leaders, who connect more closely with the employees, and the decorations represent efficiency of the intermingling levels.

From the roof, the top of the chain in business, the managers are able to look over all of the happenings of the company to better evaluate the actions of the employees below, who may or may not need direction from the management to improve efficiency.

The manager is the overseer who protects the company from corrupt practices, gives both positive and negative feedback, and ensures the most efficiency of work in business. This position is as equally vital as a roof in a house, which needs the protection from weather, and a structure looking down on the building to witness everything. A manager is like the building of a house. To know the basis of a good manager is one thing, but he or she must support and carry the company in both prosperity and trouble.